Syria peace talks falter, more influence from outside

Second round of Geneva II talks between the Syrian government and opposition mediated by an international envoy faltered into the third day Wednesday, seeing increased influence from outside. The third day's negotiations adjourned at the noon, and the two sides persisted in their own positions, without budging an inch. The opposition presented a 22-point document to outline their proposed steps and principles to guide the transitional process in Syria, said Louay al-Safi, the opposition delegation's spokesman, adding that the paper included the establishment of transitional governing body, the ceasefire and release of prisoner, etc. Meanwhile, Syria Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Makdad reaffirmed that stopping the violence and terrorism should top the agenda. He stressed that they were ready to discuss all issues of Geneva communique, adopted in 2012, but only after the discussion over the item of halting violence and terrorism in the war-torn country. In an effort to solve the sticking point, the mediator of Geneva II conference, UN-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi noted Tuesday that he suggested the two sides in a memorandum sent by himself to them in advance of this fresh round of talks to discuss the two issues in parallel, saying that "they are both important matters." However, it seemed that so far the current round of negotiations did not witness progress in this regard. Brahimi met with Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Gennady Gatilov in the morning before he met with the two delegations "simultaneously". It was reported that the meeting between the senior Russian diplomat and the special envoy involved discussions over the agenda and priorities of negotiations, as well as measures to bring the ongoing round of Geneva II conference forward. The UN-Russia-U.S. trilateral meeting was brought one day earlier than the schedule. Corinne Momal-Vanian, spokeswoman with the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), said that Brahimi would meet Gatilov and Wendy Sherman, U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Thursday afternoon. Al-Safi said that at the moment their delegation haven't scheduled any talks at the upcoming trilateral meeting.